ORGANIC GARDEN丨2017 VOLUNTEER TRAINING VI
May.16.2017
Volunteer Zhou Ying’s Training Notes on The Making of Eco-friendly Ferment
Eco-friendly ferment is the brown liquid obtained by fermentation of kitchen waste mixed with sugar and water. It has a strong odor that smells like citrus. The functions of ferment are as below:
- Eco-friendly cleanser: we can use it as dish detergent or laundry detergent. We can also add some soapberries to make better detergent.
- Organic fertilizer
- Unclog the toilet or sink, preventing them from being blocked
- It helps us get rid of the molds, unpleasant odor and bacteria.
How to Make It
First, we need a lidded plastic bottle. For home use, we can choose a wild-mouth bottle that has larger volume. The proportion of red sugar, kitchen waste and water is 1:3:10. For kitchen waste, we can use fruit peel, vegetable leaves or other plants. In most cases, the rotten vegetable leaves have unpleasant odor. In order to produce ferment with pleasant odor, we could add orange or lemon peels and other vegetables or fruit peels with pleasing aromas.
60% of the plastic bottle should be filled with unboiled water. Then we add other ingredients in accordance with the proportion mentioned above. Mark the date and put the bottle in a cool and ventilated place. In the first month, release the gas produced by fermentation once a week. And then let it sit for 3 months.
If the ferment liquid is black, then the fermentation process has not succeeded. We should add some red sugar and then wait for another 3 months. If there is a white film at the surface of the liquid, then the fermentation has succeeded. We can even use it for skincare (it is said that it can moisturize the skin and relieve itching. To be safe, though, we can use it on other parts of the body except our faces.)
How to Use It
The ferment is just like the wine and the older it gets, the better its quality. After 1:1000 dilutions, it can be used as liquid fertilizer. For the dregs in the bottle, we can dry them up in the sun and use them as fertilizer. Or we can leave them in the bottle and add fresher ingredients to start a new fermentation process.
